7.2.Staff Announcements

7.3.NIRPC Meetings/Events

7.3.1.NIRPC Finance & Personnel Meeting - November 19th @ 8AM

7.3.2.NIRPC Full Commission Meeting - November 19th @ 9AM

8.Next Meeting

The next Technical Planning Committee meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, January 12, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. at the NIRPC offices.

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Technical Planning Committee

Virtual Meeting

Tuesday, September 8, 2020

Minutes

This meeting was convened as an electronic meeting, pursuant to Governor Holcomb’s Executive Order 20-04 and 20-09, extended by Executive Order 20-39. All persons were meeting remotely on a Google Meet platform that allowed for real time interaction and supported the public’s ability to observe and record the proceedings. When the agenda item was provided for public comment, this was supported as well. A roll call was taken to motion and approve the agenda items.

Kevin Breitzke called the meeting to order at 10:05 a.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Committee members present were Kevin Breitzke (Porter County), Mark O’Dell (Chesterton), David Wright (GPTC), George Topoll (Union Township), Kay Nelson (FORUM), and Kelly Wenger (NICTD).

Others present were Lauri Keagle (SSCC), Beth West (La Porte Transporte), and Joyce Newland (Federal Highway).

Staff present were Mitch Barloga, Scott Weber, Kevin Polette, Candice Eklund, Charles Bradsky, Peter Kimball, and Flor Baum.

The July 7, 2020 meeting minutes were approved on motion by Kay Nelson and second by George Topoll.

Public Comments

No public comments to announce.

Planning

Scott Weber presented on MOVE NWI Resolution 20-22. The public comment report was released and made available on August 10 through August 31, and there were no comments received in the 21 days that it was posted. MOVE NWI Congestion Management Process (CMP) is a federally required process. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) have recommended the CMP be updated, which was last updated in 2011. MOVE NWI will have passively collected data coming from several sources, especially big data as opposed to static data that is currently being used. This will be a shared responsibility between NIRPC and project sponsors. NIRPC will allocate the resources to acquire and maintain the analytical tools used in MOVE NWI. The NOFA process will include MOVE NWI as an easy-to-understand checklist to determine whether a project is exempt or needs to be screened for CMP compliance. This will apply to three (3) program areas of the NOFA, which is the Roadway Improvement Program, Quality of Place Program, and New Roadway Projects. The committee discussed how frequently MOVE NWI CMP will be updated. Scott Weber explained that NIRPC receives a Federal Certification review every four (4) years from Federal Highway and Federal Transit.

Roll call was announced, and the following present members voted to recommend Resolution 20-22: Kevin Breitzke, George Topoll, Mark O’Dell, David Wright, Beth West, and Kelly Wenger. There were no members who opposed. On motion by David Wright and second by George Topoll, the Technical Planning Committee (TPC) unanimously voted to recommend the MOVE NWI Resolution 20-22 to The Commission for adoption.

Programming

Charles Bradsky presented on Resolution 20-23; draft changes included in Amendment #10 to the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). The public comment report was released and made available on August 14 through September 4, and there were no comments received in the 21 days that it was posted. Charles informed the committee of clerical errors in the meeting packet report. The sponsor is La Porte

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County on pp. 110 - 111, and the sponsor is Lake County on p. 112. INDOT is not the sponsor. However, the public comment did contain the corrected report. NIRPC sent the list of the projects to the Interagency Consultation Group (ICG) for comments, prior to being posted on their website. NIRPC received minor comments from the ICG and were approved on August 26. This amendment comprises 17 projects covering FY-20 through FY-24. Seven (7) projects have local sponsors and 10 projects were sponsored by Federal or State agencies, IDOT or Federal Lands. Two (2) projects have been added to the TIP for Federal Lands. The City of Gary added PE funds from their construction (CN) funds from their 12-20 project. La Porte County added a project for sidewalks and union mills, and a bridge replacement. Right of Way (ROW) funds were added to the Lincoln Trail extension project from Westville to Purdue Northwest. Lake County had a bridge replacement project. Michigan City eliminated the Woodland Ave project in FY-22. Portage added demonstration funds to the CN project on Crisman Rd. INDOT had 8 projects: Three (3) bridge replacements, one (1) intersection improvement, one (1) overhead sign inspection project, one (1) statewide safety consultation project, and two (2) projects related with the Local Tracks in Gary on Clark Rd. For better maintenance tracking purposes, INDOT has created two DES numbers for every Local Tracks project: one for road work and one for the actual bridge.

Roll call was announced, and the following present members voted to recommend Resolution 20-23: Kevin Breitzke, George Topoll, Mark O’Dell, David Wright, Beth West, and Kelly Wenger. There were no members who opposed. On motion by Kay Nelson and second by George Topoll, the TPC unanimously voted to recommend Resolution 20-23 TIP amendment # 10 to The Commission for adoption.

Charles Bradsky presented on NOFA updates. The NOFA has been posted to the NIRPC website. NIRPC staff has been sending test applications to assure that the process is functioning properly. Comments from the 2018-2019 NOFA were revisited. Meetings with NIRPC staff will continue. A summary spreadsheet will be made available on October 21 to promote transparency. The NOFA workshop will also continue from past practices. A link to the maps needed will be included in every application. An expanded section for bridge rehabilitation is in Roadway Improvement. New bridges will be part of New Roadway. PE and ROW funding will remain at 7%. 5 ½ weeks will be given to submit the application. Committees have three (3) months to review, discuss, and score projects. Contact Charles Bradsky with any questions at cbradsky@nirp.org, or by phone at 219-763-6060.

Topical Committee Reports

Mitch Barloga spoke on the Ped, Pedal, and Paddle Committee (3PC). The October 1 meeting will be postponed to late October, or early November. Eman Ibrahim spoke on the Land Use Committee’s (LUC) TOD programming presentation and E-commerce Impacts presentation from their previous meeting. Presentations can be found on the NIRPC website under the Land Use Committee. Charles Bradsky spoke on the TROC newsletter and asked to contact him to be added to the email notification list.

Other Business, Staff Announcements and Upcoming Meetings

Announcements and upcoming dates were shared with the committee.

Upcoming meetings were announced. There was a correction on the meeting date from September 16 to September 17.

Next Meeting

The next Technical Planning Committee (TPC) meeting is slated for Tuesday, October 6, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. at the NIRPC offices.

The meeting concluded at 10:54 a.m.

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6100 Southport Road

Portage, Indiana 46368

(219) 763-6060

www.nirpc.org

RESOLUTION 20-27

A RESOLUTION OF THE NORTHWESTERN INDIANA

REGIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION TO ADOPT THE

E-COMMERCE IN NORTHWEST INDIANA REPORT FOR

LAKE, PORTER, AND LAPORTE COUNTIES, INDIANA

November 19, 2020

WHEREAS, the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission, hereafter referred to as “the Commission”, being designated the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for the Lake, Porter, and LaPorte County area, has established a comprehensive, cooperative, and continuing transportation planning process to develop the FY 2021-2022 Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP); and

WHEREAS, E-commerce is rapidly changing the face of retail in the world. Traditional big-box competitors are under pressure to reduce delivery lead times in order to increase speed to market, which directly impacts the transportation network. E- commerce is also impacting employment, and job training should be made available to accommodate advances in technology; and

WHEREAS, the further expansion of e-commerce will impact urban logistics and change roadway system use and needs. It will also increase demand on facilities like warehousing, distribution centers, and last mile delivery; and

WHEREAS, this report investigates the impacts of e-commerce on Northwest Indiana and offer recommendations on how best to deal with the rapidly changing retail landscape on land-uses and our transportation network.; and

WHEREAS, the Technical Policy Committee (TPC) has recommended that the Commission approve this E-Commerce in Northwest Indiana report; and

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission hereby adopts the E-Commerce in Northwest Indiana report, and the Commission is authorized to enter into such agreements and contracts as may be required for the implementation of this study.

Duly adopted by the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission this nineteenth day of November 2020.

_________________________

Michael Griffin

Chairperson

ATTEST:

___________________________

Justin Kiel

Secretary

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UPWP 2021-2022 Amendment #3

100.1 Planning Management and Administration

TO BE INSERTED ON PAGE 16

Voice to Text transcription

•Purchase of software to facilitate more efficient meeting minute production.

Budget Line Item: Communications

200.1 Transportation Data Collection

TO BE INSERTED ON PAGE 27

NIRPC Data Bike

•The objective of NIRPC's Data Bike project is to develop a bike-based data-collection vehicle, using an electric-assist bicycle, an iPhone, and an iPhone app designed to detect pavement conditions, and then to collect pavement-condition data for all paved trails within the NW Indiana Greenways & Blueways (G&B) network for NIRPC's use and its and member cities and counties, as well as partner organizations. This data will help inform a long-term maintenance strategy for the G&B network.

In addition to collecting pavement-condition data, the Data Bike will be used for other valuable purposes to benefit the users of the trail system, as well as the government and nonprofit entities that maintain them. These include collecting Google Street View images for all of the trails in the region using a Samsung Gear 360, as well as collecting geocoded imagery of trail conditions using a GoPro camera.

Budget Line Item: Equipment

Advanced Trail Counters

•Distribution of advanced trail counters throughout the entire NIRPC region to gauge the number of users accessing trail facilities. Counters will be placed along both paved and natural surfaces, providing data on both pedestrian and bicycle usage NIRPC will collect the data and provide results to participating communities.

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Counters include solid state boxes which are mobile, as well as post and loop systems which involve installing sensors into the trail surface, which delineate between both pedestrians and bicyclists.

Information gleaned from the counter data will provide municipal decision-makers with the tools to target investments in the right projects and making certain that these investments are equitable. Emergency services will also be benefited by providing them data on high-use trail segments.

NIRPC Budget Line Item: Equipment

200.2 Data Analysis and GIS Support Services

TO BE INSERTED ON PAGE 29

ArcOnline Projects

•Purchase additional ESRI credits to increase capacity for geographic data display and storymaps.

Budget Line Item: Communication

200.3 Performance-based Planning Activities

TO BE INSERTED ON PAGE 29 OR 31

Tableau software

•Purchase Tableau software to better manage "big" datasets and build a performance-based planning dashboard with visualization capabilities. Numerous other Indiana MPOs and INDOT use Tableau (i.e. MACOG and INDOT).

Budget Line Item: Communication *ongoing annual cost to budget

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200.5 Travel Demand Modeling

TO BE INSERTED ON PAGE 35

Travel Demand Model Update

•Update the Travel Demand Model based on 2018-2019 Household Travel Survey.

300.2 TIP Management

TO BE INSERTED ON PAGE 45

RTIP Redesign

•NIRPC will work with Indianapolis MPO to develop an on-line TIP that will coordinate with the system INDOT is developing.

Budget Line Item: Contractual

400.5 Transportation and Environmental Linkages

TO BE INSERTED ON PAGE 61

Transportation Infrastructure Vulnerability Assessment

•Transportation Infrastructure Vulnerability Assessment NIRPC will procure a contractor to initiate vulnerability assessmentstudy

Budget Line Item: Contractual

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500.1 Active Transportation Planning

TO BE INSERTED ON PAGE 125

USBR Signage

•Purchasing of placards marking the United States Bicycle Routes (USBR) 35, 36 and 37 in the NIRPC region. These will include north, south, east and west, plus arrow placards as well. The signs will be fabricated to MUCTD roadway standards for color and reflectivity.

Budget Line Item: Promotional

600.1 Special Planning Initiatives

TO BE INSERTED ON PAGE 69

E. commerce Sub-Area Planning

•E-Commerce study driven Sub-Area Redevelopment Plan for Merrillville at 61st.

Old Plank Road Trail Study

•This project will assess the feasibility of extending the Old Plank Road Trail from its current terminus in Chicago Heights, east through the Villages of Ford Heights, Sauk Village, and Lynwood and Towns of Dyer and Schererville, to connect to the Pennsy Greenway in Indiana. The purpose of the study is to evaluate and identify preferred trail alignments, including the land adjacent to the Canadian National rail corridor, and develop a scope of work that can be carried forward for further development. The recommendations will be based on engineering analysis, as well as stakeholder and community input and preferences, and will lay the basic groundwork for a finance strategy, railroad agreements, cost of preliminary engineering, design and engineering, right-of-way acquisition, and phased construction of the trail extension.

In September of 2020, the Village of Sauk Village received an Invest in Cook County grant for $300,000 to complete work on the study in Illinois. As part of their application, letters of support were submitted by NIRPC, and both Schererville and Dyer. This request aims to provide up to $50,000 for work to include the Indiana portion of this project scope.

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